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For Immediate Release
February, 01 2022, 07:05am EDT
Contact:
Norman Solomon, norman@rootsaction.
Medea Benjamin, medea.benjamin@gmail.com,
100 U.S. Organizations Release Statement Urging Biden "to End the U.S. Role in Escalating" the Ukraine Crisis
More than 100 national and regional U.S. organizations released a joint statement Tuesday urging President Biden "to end the U.S. role in escalating the extremely dangerous tensions with Russia over Ukraine." The groups said "it is gravely irresponsible for the president to participate in brinkmanship between two nations that possess 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons."
The statement warned that the current crisis "could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the precipice of nuclear war."
WASHINGTON
More than 100 national and regional U.S. organizations released a joint statement Tuesday urging President Biden "to end the U.S. role in escalating the extremely dangerous tensions with Russia over Ukraine." The groups said "it is gravely irresponsible for the president to participate in brinkmanship between two nations that possess 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons."
The statement warned that the current crisis "could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the precipice of nuclear war."
Release of the statement came with an announcement of a virtual news conference set for Wednesday morning -- with speakers including a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Jack F. Matlock Jr.; The Nation editorial director Katrina vanden Heuvel, who is president of the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord; and Martin Fleck, representing Physicians for Social Responsibility. Journalists can sign up to attend the Noon EST Feb. 2 news conference via Zoom by clicking here -- https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pIoKDszBQ8Ws8A8TuDgKbA -- and will then receive a confirmation email with an access link.
Organizations signing the statement included Physicians for Social Responsibility, RootsAction.org, Code Pink, Just Foreign Policy, Peace Action, Veterans For Peace, Our Revolution, MADRE, Progressive Democrats of America, American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord, Pax Christi USA, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Center for Citizen Initiatives, and the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security.
Outreach for the statement was coordinated by Code Pink and RootsAction.org. Below is the statement's full text.
_____________________
A Statement from U.S. Organizations on the Ukraine Crisis
[ February 1, 2022 ]
As organizations representing millions of people in the United States, we call upon President Biden to end the U.S. role in escalating the extremely dangerous tensions with Russia over Ukraine. It is gravely irresponsible for the president to participate in brinkmanship between two nations that possess 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.
For the United States and Russia, the only sane course of action now is a commitment to genuine diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation - which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the precipice of nuclear war.
While both sides are to blame for causing this crisis, its roots are entangled in the failure of the U.S. government to live up to its promise made in 1990 by then-Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would expand not "one inch to the East." Since 1999, NATO has expanded to include numerous countries, including some that border Russia. Rather than dismissing out of hand the Russian government's current insistence on a written guarantee that Ukraine will not become part of NATO, the U.S. government should agree to a long-term moratorium on any NATO expansion.
Signing organizations
Physicians for Social Responsibility
RootsAction.org
CODEPINK
Just Foreign Policy
Peace Action
Veterans For Peace
Our Revolution
MADRE
Progressive Democrats of America
American Committee for US-Russia Accord
Pax Christi USA
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Alaska Peace Center
Arise for Social Justice
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
Backbone Campaign
Baltimore Nonviolence Center
Baltimore Peace Action
BDSA Internationalism Committee
Benedictines for Peace
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Beyond Nuclear
Campaign Nonviolence
Casa Baltimore Limay
Chapter 9 Veterans For Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade
Chicago Area Peace Action
Cleveland Peace Action
Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Community Peacemaker Teams
Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety
Continuing the Peace Dialogue
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington DC
Eisenhower Media Project
End the Wars Coalition, Milwaukee
Environmentalists Against War
First Unitarian Society - Madison Justice Ministries
Food Not Bombs
Foreign Policy In Focus
Frack Free Four Corners
Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution
Global Exchange
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Grassroots International
Hawaii Peace and Justice
Historians for Peace and Democracy
Interfaith Peace Working Group
International Tribunal of Conscience
Just World Educational
Kalamazoo Nonviolent Opponents of War
Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Maryland Peace Action
Massachusetts Peace Action
Metta Center for Nonviolence
Monroe County Democrats
MPower Change Fund
Muslim Delegates and Allies
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) International
New Hampshire Veterans for Peace
New Jersey State Industrial Union Council
North Texas Peace Advocates
Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
Other98
Pace e Bene
Parallax Perspectives
Partners for Peace Fort Collins
Peace Action of San Mateo County
Peace Action WI
Peace Education Center
PeaceWorkers
People for Bernie Sanders
Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter, Baltimore, Veterans For Peace
Physicians for Social Responsibility, AZ Chapter
Prevent Nuclear War/ Maryland
Progressive Democrats of America, Tucson
Proposition One Campaign for a Nuclear Free Future
Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center
Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin
San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility
San Jose Peace and Justice Center
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team
SolidarityINFOService
Traprock Center for Peace & Justice
United for Peace and Justice
United Nations Association, Milwaukee
Veterans For Peace, Russia Working Group
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 102
Veterans For Peace Chapter 111, Bellingham, WA
Veterans For Peace Chapter 113-Hawai'i
Veterans For Peace Linus Pauling Chapter 132
Veterans For Peace - NYC Chapter 34
Veterans For Peace - Santa Fe Chapter
Veterans Peace Team
Western North Carolina Physicians for Social Responsibility
Western States Legal Foundation
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
Women Cross DMZ
Women Against Military Madness
Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom US
Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy
World BEYOND War
350 Milwaukee
RootsAction is dedicated to galvanizing people who are committed to economic fairness, equal rights for all, civil liberties, environmental protection -- and defunding endless wars. We mobilize on these issues no matter whether Democrats or Republicans control Washington D.C.
CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.
(818) 275-7232LATEST NEWS
'Enormous Relief' as Palestinian Leqaa Kordia Freed From ICE After a Year, But Fight Continues
"We will continue this fight in both immigration and federal courts for as long as it takes, not only for Leqaa but for the freedom of all people facing unjust retaliation for speaking out against genocide," said one lawyer.
Mar 16, 2026
Leqaa Kordia, along with her family and legal team, celebrated on Monday when the 33-year-old Palestinian was released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement after over a year in detention—but they also pointed to the battles ahead as President Donald Trump's administration continues to crack down on immigrants and critics.
"We are elated and relieved that Leqaa can finally return home to her family in New Jersey after a long year in ICE detention," said Sarah Sherman-Stokes, supervising attorney with the Boston University School of Law Immigrants Rights Clinic, in a statement.
"This is an important step in restoring Leqaa's rights as she continues to be unlawfully targeted by the government for her advocacy for Palestinian rights," Sherman-Stokes said. "We will continue this fight in both immigration and federal courts for as long as it takes, not only for Leqaa but for the freedom of all people facing unjust retaliation for speaking out against genocide."
Kordia is one of several immigrant advocates of Palestinian rights targeted by the Trump administration. The New Jersey resident was arrested during an ICE check-in last March and swiftly transferred to Prairieland Detention Center in Texas.
An immigration judge ordered Kordia's release a third time last Friday, on the one-year mark of her detention, as various advocacy groups including Amnesty International USA and Defending Rights & Dissent renewed calls for her freedom.
"We are overwhelmed with relief and gratitude at the release of our beloved Leqaa Kordia," her cousin Hamzah Abushaban said Monday. "This past year has taken an unimaginable toll on Leqaa and our entire family. We are grateful to our community that stood beside us every step of the way, and for the countless prayers offered during this past Ramadan—those moments of sincerity and hope carried us through some of our darkest days."
"While today marks a powerful and emotional milestone, we recognize that this is only the beginning," Abushaban continued. "Leqaa's voice, her resilience, and her story will continue to echo as we push for justice in a system that too often relies on unjust tactics, separating families, and inflicting lasting harm, as they have done to ours for over a year. We remain committed to advocating for every person who has been unjustly detained. No family should have to endure what ours has experienced. Today, we celebrate Leqaa's return home. Tomorrow, we continue the fight for justice."
Amal Thabateh, staff attorney with Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR), one of the organizations representing Kordia, stressed that "Leqaa should not have spent a single moment in ICE detention, let alone an entire year."
"Leqaa, like others, was punished for speaking out in defense of Palestinians, including her own family," Thabateh said. "While it took too many months and too many bond hearings for Leqaa to be released, a just result is finally here. We will continue to defend Leqaa's and others' rights to speak out for Palestinian liberation."
According to her Kordia's legal team, she lost nearly 200 relatives in the US-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, which has continued to kill Palestinians in the territory despite an October ceasefire deal.
"It is an enormous relief that Leqaa is finally liberated from surviving one year of retaliatory and arbitrary immigration confinement for daring to speak her truth and protest against the genocide in Gaza," said Sadaf Hasan, staff attorney at Muslim Advocates. "It's outrageous that it took the government this long to comply with an immigration judge's repeated orders to release her."
While Kordia can now return to her family, the Trump administration may continue to target her. The Associated Press reported Monday that "an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security, Anastasia Norcross, said the government opposed the release of Kordia, regardless of the bond. She did not say at the time whether it would appeal for a third time."
Hasan said that Kordia walking free, at least for now, "is a long-overdue reminder that the government can't silence the movement for Palestinian liberation," but also is "about calling for an end to an immigration system that profits daily by subjecting tens of thousands of people to the abuses and indignities that Leqaa suffered."
As Trump has aimed to round up immigrants across various US cities, often by sending in hordes of masked federal agents, the number of people in ICE detention has climbed to nearly 70,000, as of last month. Despite the administration's claims that it is working to deport "the worst of the worst," data have repeatedly shown that most detainees lack criminal convictions.
Agents roaming streets in cities including Chicago and Minneapolis have also openly violated the rights of protesters and legal observers, even fatally shooting US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the latter city earlier this year.
Travis Fife, staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Monday that "Leqaa going home today is the bare minimum. We must continue to assert the fundamental First Amendment principle that the government cannot abuse power to punish people for using their voice."
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In what advocates called a major victory for public health, a federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from implementing a series of moves that critics have warned would weaken childhood immunization efforts and increase the likelihood of serious disease outbreaks.
US District Judge Brian E. Murphy of Massachusetts, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, invalidated Kennedy's reorganized Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) panel, which was set to meet later this week.
Kennedy—who was confirmed by the Senate last year over the objections of tens of thousands experts and despite being a purveyor of vaccine misinformation—replaced ACIP members with several people with ties to the anti-vaccine movement.
Murphy also blocked the committee's unprecedented changes to US immunization recommendations, writing that the "arbitrary and capricious" move stands in stark contrast with the long established decision-making process he called "a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements."
“Unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions," the judge said.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Kennedy revised the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) childhood immunization schedule so that fewer vaccines are now universally recommended for all children. The agency also reclassified vaccines that were previously endorsed for all children into categories in which vaccination depends on designated risk groups and consultations with medical professionals, among other changes.
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have announced that they would not follow the new CDC immunization recommendations.
Lookie Here! As of now, 29 states + DC, have announced that they are no longer going to follow CDC's recommendations for some or all childhood vaccines.Kennedy is not restoring public trust in science as he said he would. 🧪 www.kff.org/other-health...
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— Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist (@princess-vimentin.bsky.social) March 12, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Plaintiffs' attorney Richard Huges IV said in a statement that "this ruling is a momentous step toward restoring science-based vaccine policymaking."
"The judge recognized that the actions of Secretary Kennedy and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are not grounded in science and that they are destructive," he added. "We are thrilled that the court has discarded the baseless vaccine schedule changes made by Secretary Kennedy and is blocking the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices from doing further damage to vaccine policy."
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group director at Public Citizen, said in response to the ruling that "Judge Murphy’s decision is a much-needed victory for a sane approach to federal vaccine policy that relies on science, not misinformation and conspiracy theories."
"Kennedy’s hand-picked ACIP has been a national embarrassment, thoroughly lacking in the ability to make careful fact-based decisions," he added. "The judge’s ruling offers a responsible path forward for public health and evidence-based federal vaccine policy.”
RFK Jr. fired all of the legitimate scientific experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with unqualified political appointees.A judge just ruled that the new members were not appropriately appointed, so ACIP cannot meet this week to spread more misinformation.
— Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD (@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social) March 16, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Anthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Families USA, said in a statement: "When politics override science, our children pay the price. Today’s decision helps ensure that medical evidence—not ideology—guides how we protect kids from preventable diseases."
Wright continued:
Secretary Kennedy’s attempt to remove universal recommendations for routine vaccinations only increased confusion among medical providers and families. The routine vaccines being questioned by HHS are the product of centuries of rigorous science and medicine and are why children today don’t die from measles or suffer the lifelong consequences of diseases we long ago learned to prevent. For a country as large, diverse, and mobile as ours, universal vaccine recommendations are the safest and most effective way to stop outbreaks before they start.
Amid several recent outbreaks, public health officials warned late last year that the United States is close to following Canada in losing its measles elimination status, a deadly and preventable setback many experts attribute to HHS' vaccine-averse policies and practices under Kennedy.
"We commend the court for this ruling, but families should not have to depend on litigation to ensure their child can receive a routine vaccine," Wright said. "Evidence-based medicine keeps children alive and in school. Preventing disease should be the foundation of any healthcare system serious about confronting the next disease outbreak or finding the next cure."
The group Protect Our Care called the decision "a major step in the right direction for children’s health after many setbacks under this administration."
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Indeed, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency "looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing.”
Public health advocates noted the limitations of judicial rulings.
"The courts can only do so much without Congress, which must fulfill its oversight responsibility and rein in an executive branch that is taking an axe to core public health protections," Wright said. "Transparency and scientific integrity are not optional, especially when children’s lives are at stake. Families deserve vaccine policy grounded in evidence and expert guidance—not ideology or personal bias—with the goal of making sure every child in America can grow up healthy.”
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"While we're busy destroying the Gulf, our side project is implementing a total siege on the island of Cuba," said one progressive critic. "Unbelievably cruel."
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Cuba faced an island-wide blackout on Monday amid an energy crisis resulting from President Donald Trump's decision to ramp up the United States' decadeslong and legally contested blockade of the Caribbean country by cutting off shipments of Venezuelan oil.
"A total disconnection" of the island's electrical system had occurred, but "the causes are being investigated, and protocols for restoration are beginning to be activated," the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines said on social media. It later added that "no faults" were reported in the units operating when the grid collapsed, and "the restoration process continues."
While Cuba has endured power outages in recent years that officials and experts have blamed on both the condition of the country's system and US sanctions, there have been multiple major blackouts in recent months, since Trump sent soldiers to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and seized control of Venezuela's nationalized oil industry.
"Officials in the US [government] must be feeling very happy by the harm caused to every Cuban family," Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told CNN of the latest outage. The network noted that it had reached out to the White House for comment.
Blasting the blackout as "a direct consequence of Trump's economic warfare," Manolo De Los Santos of The People's Forum in New York City said on social media Monday that "the US has deliberately cut off fuel, spare parts, and equipment, crippling an already fragile grid. It's a genocidal siege, designed to starve and break the Cuban people into submission."
Similarly highlighting how "decades of US sanctions have made it harder for Cuba to access the fuel, equipment, and financing needed to maintain its energy grid," New York state Sen. Jabari Brisport (D-25), a democratic socialist, declared that "it's time to end the blockade and pursue diplomacy."
The blackout on the island of nearly 11 million people came after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly confirmed on Friday that his government recently held "sensitive" talks with the Trump administration "to determine the willingness of both parties to take concrete actions for the benefit of the people of both countries."
Specifically, according to The Associated Press, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio—the son of Cuban immigrants and longtime supporter of regime change on the island—and top aides met with Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community leaders meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis last month.
During his Friday remarks to reporters, Díaz-Canel also emphasized the impacts of Cuba not receiving oil shipments for over three months, including disruptions to communications, education, healthcare, and transportation across the island.
While Trump was speaking with reporters on Monday, he called Cuba a "failed nation," and claimed that "Cuba also wants to make a deal, and I think we will pretty soon, either make a deal or do whatever we have to do." He also signaled that any such action would come after the illegal war his administration and Israel are waging on Iran.
Although Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently helped Senate Republicans block Sen. Tim Kaine's (D-Va.) war powers resolution intended to halt Trump's assault on Iran, Kaine has now partnered with Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) for a similar measure on Cuba.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) took to social media on Monday to weigh in on the grid collapse: "Cuba has gone dark. Trump's vindictive oil embargo—along with a sanctions regime that has starved Cuba of opportunities to develop its solar and wind—is depriving innocent Cuban citizens of basic necessities and creating a humanitarian crisis. Trump must end the embargo."
Markey and two other Massachusetts Democrats, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jim McGovern, had previously written to Trump in February to call for an end to the oil embargo, stressing that "Cuba poses no credible national security threat to the United States," and "the overt strategy of choking off oil imports to the island is inflicting severe hardship on the Cuban people, who rely on imported fuel for electricity, transportation, healthcare, and clean water."
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